Weddings aren't the only places to find love
by cowgirl.at.heart
Summary: this is an alternative ending for the episode the fugitive. What would have happened if Jack had taken Lucy's place at the dinner and at the end? JackSue


"I'm sorry Sue. I can't go."

"Can't go?"

"I can't go with you to the wedding. There's this flower show in New York, and it's a once a year thing, and I told a buddy that I'd fill in for him." _I'm so sorry_, he signed.

She smiled softly at him. "Don't worry about it." Walking over with him to the elevator she pushed the button and waited next to him. "Buy me an 'I love New York' shirt and we'll call it even."

He smiled at her in his goofy yet charming grin. "Thank Sue, you're the best." At that moment, the elevator arrived and opened its doors. "I'll call you when I arrive" and he bent over and kissed her cheek.

She hid her disappointment with a smile. "Bye."

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

Lucy was sitting on top of Sue's desk, "what do you mean he can't go?"

Sue looked up from her computer and shrugged. "There's a big flower show in New York this weekend that he has to go to. Personally I don't blame him. I still don't really want to go to this wedding. Sorry Lucy."

"Hmmmmm." Lucy's nose wrinkled and Sue could tell that she wsa thinking of something.

"What?"

Suddenly Lucy stood up and walked over to Jack's desk. "Jack what are yo doing this weekend?"

"Nothing why?"

Sue quickly went over to Jack's desk and gave Lucy a death glare. "It's nothing I-"

Lucy smiled broadly. "It's just that Sue's been invited to a wedding by an old school friend and her date's just backed out."

Jack smiled at Sue, his brown eyes twinkling playfully. "So I'm your backup plan huh?"

Sue's eyes went wide. "No Jack don't take it like that…"

Jack stood up and placed his hand on Sue's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I would never pass up a free meal and an evening with Miss Sue Thomas." He smiled at her, and received a bark from Levi. "And Levi of course."

Sue blushed, trying to hide it by bending over petting Levi. "Ummm there's a rehearsal dinner tonight at 7pm…."

He smiled broadly, "then I'll pick you up at 6:30."

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

Sue was doing last minute touches in her room when Lucy walking in. "Oooh look at you. You look beautiful Sue."

"Thanks, but I'm really nervous?"

Lucy grinned, and Sue could see the mischief in her eyes. "About Jack?"

Sue glared at her. "I haven' seen these people since high school, and even then I wasn't friends with them. They ignored me and whispered behind my back. What if they haven't changed?"

Lucy put her hand on Sue's arm and squeezed it tightly. "Don't worry," she whispered. "You'll be fine." The door bell rang and Levi came bounding into the room and nearly knocked the two women over. "Plus I'm sure Levi will be the life of the party."

Lucy opened the door to a suave Jack Hudson. "Don't you wash up nicely."

Jack grinned at her, and walked into the apartment. "Why thank you."

"I'll get Sue."

In a few moments, Sue walked in and was awestruck at the handsome man standing in her living room. He wasn't wearing a tux as it was only a rehearsal dinner, but he wore a dark suit, and a red dress shirt with black tie. She let out a nervous laugh, "I feel underdressed."

Her voice caught his attention and he turned around to see a beautiful Sue Thomas. She was wearing a small, fitted black dress, with a low semi revealing neck line and a shiny broach. Her hair was curled and put up, except for a few stray curls that hung down her neck. It took him a few moments to find his voice. "Absolutely not. You look…beautiful."

She blushed. "Thanks"

Lucy stepped in to see the blushing couple. "Go on you two, or you'll be late."

"Shall we?" Jack held out his arm for Sue, who took it and they walked out of the apartment, followed by Levi.

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.**

Overall the rehearsal dinner had been very awkward. Everyone there were people who ignored or bullied her in high school. But Jack was being the perfect gentleman and never left her side.

At the present they were sitting at the dinner table surrounded by the bride and her friends. One man in particular was being a real jerk. Sue remembered him vividly from her youth. He had never talked to her, and went out of his way to ignore her.

You didn't have to be in the F.B.I to know that this man was drunk but even the alcohol didn't mask the hurtfulness behind his words. "Now who would've thought that our Sue would have made it all the way to the F.B.I? Huh?" He glanced around the table for acknowledgement and received a few small nods from various diners. "I guess hiring a deaf girl makes them look good in the public's eye."

Jack could feel the anger boiling up inside of him. No one could talk that way about his Sue. He could see how the words were affecting here, and how awkward it was for her. Sue saw Jack's muscles tense and saw his hand on his lap clench into a fist.

"You must be the F.B.I's poster girl."

Sue inhaled sharply as the jerk sent her another hard blow. Jack quickly covered her hand that was resting beneath the table on her lap, with his and squeezed it softly.

The guy raised his glass, "Here's to Sue Thomas…. Deaf B.I"

Sue could feel her face blush, and the anger rising inside her, but was comforted by the softness of Jack's hand.

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

It was after the meal that Sue and Jack excused themselves for an early night. It had been a long evening of drunk jerks making stupid deaf jokes and sarcastic remarks. When Sue could barely control her emotions anymore she excused herself from the table.

Jack held out her coat while she slipped her arms in. "Thank you" she smiled weakly. "We should probably get going, it's late." She avoided Jack's eyes, hoping that he wouldn't mention anything about the past few hours.

As she turned to walk away Jack grabbed her arm. "Sue wait." He pointed to the door leading to the dinning room. "Someone should go back in there and straighten that guy out! He has no right to talk to people like that."

Tears were welling in Sue's eyes, but she couldn't let him see them. "Just forget about it Jack…. I have." With that she turned and walked out the door.

He saw the pain in her eyes before she turned around. It made him so mad when jerks like that think they can mistreat other people. Especially his Sue. It broke his heart to see her so vulnerable like this, if only he could take her into his arms and protect her from the world.

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

As soon as she closed the door in her apartment, Sue broke down. At the sound of her crying, Lucy came running it. "Sue what happened?"

Sue walked over to the Kleenex box in the kitchen and wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Was it Jack?"

Sue shook her head. "No Jack was a perfect gentleman," she whispered. "It's just….." she sniffed, "some things never change… some people never change."

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

Sue Thomas lay in bed that night tossing and turning, overcome with strange dreams. She dreamt that she was back in high school. She was just as she was now, Sue Thomas F.B.I agent, and yet she was carrying her books and backpack. In the hallway she saw her old 'friends', at their present age and dressed as they were for the dinner rehearsal, They were laughing and pointing at her as she walked by. They made fun of her deafness. She tried to ignore them, but they ran after her, taunting her. Then they started throwing things; pencils, binders. She yelled at them to stop and to go away but they backed her into a corner.

Suddenly she felt herself being pulled to the side. Jack had come to her rescue! He placed himself protectively in front of her. "Stay away from her! Sue is smarter, nicer, and more successful than any of you could ever hope to be."

The bullies eyed Jack up and down and decided that it was a waste of their time to fight him and walked away.

Jack turned around and grinned. "Thank you" Sue said.

"_No problem"._ He signed as he spoke. He took her hand in his, "don't let them get to you Sue." He pulled her close to him and whispered softly in her ear, "they're just jealous."

Sue felt something wet touching her face. Opening her eyes she Levi sitting on her chest. Scratching his head she said to herself "just a dream boy. Just a dream." Leaning back, she sighed as she thought of Jack and the way he had helped her through the dinner.

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

The next day at work seemed to fly by. To Jack, Sue seemed reasonably normal considering the crap that she had been put through the previous night. Towards the end of the day, Lucy walked in and told Sue that she had a visitor.

As Sue stood up, she saw Mike Abbott, one of the members of the wedding party walk through the door.

Recognizing him from the dinner, Jack instinctively stood up and looked over at Sue, secretly asking her with his eyes if she wanted him to deal with this. Sue made a sitting motion with her hand, "it's okay Jack. I can handle this."

Walking over to Mike, she put on a smile. "Mike….hi, it's a surprise."

"Hi Sue. Wow what a place you've got here."

She looked around the room proudly and smirked. "Did you just come here to look around or are you here to see me?"

He looked slightly nervous, but he laughed softly. "No no I'm here to see you. I want to apologize for last night. We all had had a lot to drink, but I know that that's not an excuse. The guys have big mouths, and they don't always think about what they're saying. Looking back at high school I know that I should have said something when the guys poked fun at you and at others. You see I thought that I've grown up quite a bit since high school. But after last night I realized that I haven't. I should have said something but I didn't and I apologize. You're a really good person Sue Thomas and you have amazing friends and a killer job. I only hope to one day be half as good as you. I'm sorry."

Sue could feel her emotions building, and the tears starting to form. "Mike-"

"Anyways, it was nice to see you. I better go."

Tara came up behind Mike and offered to show him the way out. After the two of them had left, Sue remained standing staring at the door. She felt like she was a kid again; where everywhere she went she was looked on by all the mothers and family friends with pity and she hated that.

"Sue?" Lucy saw the look in her eyes.

Before the others could see her cry, Sue ran from the room. The others looked at each other with bewildered expressions. Lucy began to walk after her, but Jack put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll go."

**F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I.F.B.I**

He found her in one of the meeting rooms. Although he couldn't see her, she could tell that she was crying. Her shoulders quivered and she shaking. Going over to her he touched her shoulder softly to let her know he was there.

At the feeling of his hand on her shoulder, Sue spun around, and tried to hide her tear stained face. "Jack I….I"

He saw how hurt and broken she was and he pulled her into a big hug. As soon as she felt Jack's arms wrap around her, the emotional overload was too much and she broke down again. "Shhhhh. It's okay."

She lent into him and cried into his shirt. She cried out all of the frustration that she had over the wedding, and all of the anger and bitterness that she had been storing up from high school and the dinner rehearsal. When she was spent she pulled back, slightly embarrassed and hurriedly wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Sue nodded, and Jack put his hands on her arms. "Was it something Mike said?"

Sue shook her head. "It's nothing in particular just that….that… Ever since I was a child all I ever got from anyone was pity. They pitied me because of me 'handicap'". At the word handicap, she made the quotations with her hands. "In high school Mike and his friends made a point of taunting me. But I ignored it, and thought that I had put it all behind me until…."

"Until now" Jack finished.

Sue nodded. "Yes. And I know that what Mike did today was a nice gesture, but all I ever get from people are nice gestures. At one point in my life that would have meant something, but now….now it's just another nice gesture. I'm really sorry. I guess that the wedding and rehearsal and Mike's apology just kind of brought everything crashing down." She looked up into his eyes, "it won't happen again."

His hands fell from her arms and caught her hands. He held them gently, rubbing his thumbs softly over the back of her hands. "Sue it's me that should be sorry. I sat there at the dinner when I should have said something. I should have protected you from them, from their harsh words and I'm sorry."

She remembered the way he held her hand under the table at the dinner, giving her reassurance and courage. She blushed at the memory. Suddenly she was brought back to reality where she stood in front of Jack, barely a space between them, with her hands in his. "We should probably get going. They're going to wonder where we are."

She pulled her hands away and started to walk away. Seeing this as his last chance Jack grabbed her hand and spun her back around, placing his lips on top of hers in a gentle kiss.

What the two of them felt as they were kissing each other was indescribable. Years of hidden emotions swept through them. As the kiss intensified, they found that they were once again holding hands and their fingers were intertwined.

Breaking apart for air, Jack pulled Sue in towards him and wrapped his arms around her back. "Sue Thomas I love you. And I will never let anyone say or do anything that will hurt you."

Sue's head was spinning with the past few minutes events. But one thing she knew. She looked up into the Jack's beautiful brown eyes. _I love you too_ she signed back.


End file.
